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Elliott has first truck victory in mind

By Sports Network

NEWTON, Iowa — The fourth time could be the charm for Chase Elliott in the Camping World Truck Series.

Elliott, the 17-year-old son of 1988 NASCAR Cup Series champion Bill Elliott, has been stellar in his first three career truck starts, all of them coming this season. He has finished sixth, fifth and fourth in starts at Martinsville, Rockingham and Dover, respectively. In fact, his average finishing position of 5.0 tied him with Kurt Busch (2000 rookie of the year in trucks) for the best three-race debut in the series.

On Saturday, Elliott is expected to make his fourth start in the series at Iowa Speedway. This 0.875-mile racetrack might very well be where he scores his first truck victory. Elliott picked up his first NASCAR touring series win in 2012 at Iowa, taking the checkered flag for the K&N Pro Series race.

“I think this racetrack is a lot of fun,” Elliott said. “I think it puts on some great racing, and the place is known for that in the past. I feel like if we can get up there and just put together a mistake-free weekend and just have everything go our way, I think we’ll be just fine.”

Elliott is driving the No. 94 Chevrolet in trucks this season, with Lance McGrew serving as his crew chief. Elliott is scheduled to compete in the July 24 race at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio.

When trucks most recently ran at Iowa last September, Ryan Blaney became the youngest race winner in series history. Blaney was 18 years, 5 months and 15 days old when he scored his first truck victory.

Could Elliott top Blaney’s record?

“I haven’t thought about it a whole lot,” Elliott said. “For me, we are just there to win like everybody else is and try to do a better job than the next guy. So I haven’t really put a whole lot into my age and how old I am and how old the rest of these guys are. Just more so our personal program and what we need to do to be a little bit better.”